Red Admiral Butterfly

Description:

When its wings were open, I saw a beautiful orange band running across them. Had never seen this type of butterfly before, so I ran for my camera. It was still there when I returned but had closed its wings and did not open them again until it flew off, so I only have a photo of the underside of the wings. The underside has blue and white markings toward the tops of its wings and a little bit of that orange toward the middle, but not that gorgeous orange band.

Habitat:

When I saw this butterfly, it was resting on my compost barrel in the yard of my home in an older suburban neighborhood with mature trees.